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Wednesday, March 23, 2016

The 'Rasta-Rapunzel': Florida woman with the world's longest dreadlocks finds love with a hairdresser who first spotted her locks on the internet

Photo: Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft

Asha Mandela from Florida, pictured, has dreadlocks which are a staggering 55 feet long

The 'Rasta-Rapunzel': Florida woman with the world's longest dreadlocks finds love with a hairdresser who first spotted her locks on the internet

Asha Mandela's hair is 55 feet long and weighs a staggering 42 pounds
The 50-year-old business woman found love with a Kenyan Rastafarian
Husband Emmanuel Chege spends two days a week treating Asha's hair
He said he now wants to get the world record for a man's dreadlocks

Continue to pictures ....

The woman with the world's longest dreadlocks has found love with a hair stylist whose massive dreadlocks rival her own.

Real-life 'Rasta-Rapunzel', Asha Mandela, has locks that measure a lengthy 55ft - longer than a London bus.

Now the 50-year-old, from Florida, has found a match made in heaven with new husband, Emmanuel Chege, a qualified hair stylist from Kenya.

Photo: Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft

The 50-year-old from Florida has hair which weighs three stone and owns her own hair care business

Photo: Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft

Asha found love with fellow Rastafarian Emmanuel Chege from Kenya who she married after eight months

Photo: Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft

Emmanuel spends up to two days a week caring for his wife's massive dreadlocks

The smitten couple mutually worship each other's bountiful barnets and say that their beautifully maintained dreadlocks are their crowning glory.

Asha said: 'It's really added spice in the bedroom and it does not get in the way of anything at all.

'There are times when my hair will be on the bed with us and we can use it for whatever or we put it on the floor if we want it out of the way.'

Asha and Emmanuel met online three years ago after he was struck by pictures of her famous dreadlocks on hair websites.

He decided to contact Asha, and when she visited Kenya on business eight months later, the chemistry between them was undeniable.

And after adoring Asha's locks from a far, Emmanuel was eager to get his hands on her famous tresses.

He said: 'It was so amazing to see all this amount of hair. It was more than in my imagination.

'At first I thought maybe her locks were almost to her knees or to the ground, but the first glance when I saw her hair, it was so long, so it was so amazing and her beauty was so amazing too.'

Photo: Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft

Asha claims that her massive hair does not cause any problems in bed especially for Emmanuel

Photo: Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft

The happy couple have been together for the past two years since Emmanuel moved to his wife in Florida

Photo: Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft

According to Emmanuel, the reason he and his wife have the long dreadlocks is due to their spirituality

A whirlwind romance followed, and within eight months of meeting, Asha and Emmanuel were married in America.

Now, almost two years later, Asha has entrusted the care of her precious dreads solely to Emmanuel.

Emmanuel, who has worked as a hair stylist for 15 years, spends his days lovingly grooming Asha's three-stone dreadlocks.

Photo: Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft

Emmanuel said he wants to claim the world record for the longest male dreadlocks

They take two days to wash and dry and require full-time care and Emmanuel devotes countless hours to their upkeep.

He is also growing his own dreadlocks and hopes to become the male record holder in the future.

Asha said: 'My husband helps me with everything with my hair. I'm so spoilt since he's been taking care of it and I've got totally lazy.

'He will massage my scalp, groom my hair or twist or wash it. He does a really good job of taking care of it so that's a plus.'

Despite dedicating their lives to maintaining their locks, Asha and Emmanuel insist that their efforts are not a pursuit of vanity.

Emmanuel said: The purpose of me having locks is spiritual. I'm a Rastafarian, and locks symbolises a lot.

'I gives me a lot of positive energy and a lot of positive vibration - it's like my antennas to the spiritual world.

'It's part of my creation and it's part of my body.'

Asha often carries her hair in a handbag to prevent it trailing along the floor, but when she wears it loose the couple receive a lot of attention.

Asha, who owns her own hair product business, was told by doctors her dreadlocks would paralyse her if she kept on growing them as the weight of her hair is affecting her back.

Now Emmanuel is training her at the gym to strengthen her back muscles and Asha has already lost 65lbs.

But although Asha admits her hair can be a hindrance at time, the couple says the positives far outweigh the negatives - especially in the bedroom.

Photo: Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft

Emmanuel has even helped Asha in the gym where he has helped her lose some 65lbs in weight

Photo: Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft

Doctors have warned Asha that she risks being paralysed because of the amount of weight she was carrying

Emmanuel said: 'In some instance maybe it adds up to some spices you know in our love life.

'There are some days she will sleep on the bed and put it on the ground, some days she will feel like letting it sleep on the bed with her so sometimes you might feel like it is three of us in the bed.'

The couple have talked about having children in the future, and hope their child will continue their dreadlocks legacy.

Asha said: 'If we are blessed with children, no comb is going to go on their head.

'There will be locks straight from birth, however long that takes to come in.

'If we going to be lucky enough to be blessed with a child, it's going to be a cute little Rasta baby.'

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